Musings by me, myself and occasionally I. Be prepared for anything from sport to current affairs, politics to just real life. I hope you enjoy and thank you in advance for reading

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

General Election TV Debates – The Solution

This is less of a blog, more of an open letter to all the
party leaders and to the broadcasters, a solution to your current ‘dilemma’
over the proposed debates.

STRUCTURE – one debate between David Cameron and Ed Miliband
and one between Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. Instead of inviting just Farage to
the last one, invite him, Natalie Bennett from the Greens and George Galloway from
Respect. It’s not beyond podium builders to come up with seven platforms you
know!

Every party which is represented in Westminster and could
feasibly field candidates in every constituency across the UK would then have a
platform.

SCOTLAND, WALES AND NI – For a party very keen to distance
itself from the ‘Westminster elite’, the SNP has spent a lot of time demanding to
be in the debates. Why? People in England cannot vote for them. Same with Plaid
Cymru and the various Northern Ireland parties, should they have a platform?
No.

Instead, why not have country specific debates. I mean wasn’t
the whole point of the Scottish devolution vote to ensure the Scottish voice
was heard. Why not have a debate between the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish
Conservatives and Scottish Liberal Democrats? Sky ran one the last time and it
proved very successful.

Surely the voters in those countries want to know what the
various parties are going to do for the country if returned to Westminster? It’s
not about exclusion it’s about issues that matter to those in the respective
countries are addressed.

AND IF THEY DON’T AGREE – empty chair them, this applies to
the PM if he is indeed ‘chicken’ but also call Miliband’s bluff as well. Quite
simply if an invited guest doesn’t turn up, leave the podium empty and let the
British public draw their own conclusions.

Simple? Yeah pretty much, so is there any chance you lot can
get on and sort it out because frankly there are one or two hugely more
important issues affecting us at the moment!